Whilst we all dream of a getaway I didn’t actually mean it to be nearly six weeks.
Firstly to the IH headquarters in Los Angeles, just after Christmas, where we celebrated heading into year three with an office party and chocolate cake, during which our data dude set himself on fire. He meant too. It was a party trick. And a very good one. Little things make me proud about the company I’ve founded, like the two thousand women taking the leap to join us and knowing our Director of Analytics can fire dance.
A weekend in Santa Monica followed for our top leaders, these are the women who are busting their balls in the business, mentoring other women and surprising the heck out of themselves. The retreat was centered around the idea that business needs to be cultivated, fought for, and earned and that right there in Santa Monica we had a group of extraordinary professional entrepreneurs.
I flew across the country back to Miami, The Duke as my companion, to shoot our Biscayne Bay summer collection, can’t say more than that with out revealing too much but after a slightly slow start (we don’t need to talk about Linda’s diarrhea again), we captured some memorable moments, in some memorable locations. Michelle Soffer, model, close friend and IH Ambassador arranged for us to use a whacked-out home and garden. It’s hard to describe the interior of this house without you thinking we were tripping on something, but Lego sculptures where built into the walls and dark, sexy art hung from the ceiling and futuristic hologram clocks told us the time as trays of cupcakes were offered in the kitchen along side bowls of what looked like colorful candy but turned out to be mini vibrators. Is there any point to a mini vibrator?
Landing in frosty England a few days later was a shock. Standing on the edge of a rugby pitch and yelling encouragement to a squad of muddy 13 year olds. I cherish my time in England, tea every afternoon with my mama and the closeness of my boys makes me happy. But it’s a tough act to keep up, staying on Pacific Time so I don’t disappoint the LA office. And you have to be super careful when joining a Zoom meeting that the video does not spring into action, it’s the middle of the afternoon in LA and yet I’m soaking in a bath filled with Spider Lily long after midnight in England.
Back across the pond to New York, to review samples, test product, meet with editors, and buy American Girl Doll’s skiing outfit. We were headed to Jackson Hole. Most of my children had outgrown their ski clothes but American Girl doll was all set.
I have never met a charging moose before, or pumped gas beside wild deer or eaten elk (ok, I did not actually eat the elk), but snowmobiling across virgin snow on frozen tundras to hidden cabins and watching my kids run off the edge of a mountain with a parachute strapped to their backs, skiing through forests and evenings around fires with family and friends felt pretty flipping good, and even tackling steaming stinking teenage feet was manageable with a spritz of Casuarina.